Grapes

Answer

Answered by Aaron Abadi

"I was always taught that flavors that came from grape juice concentrate was a problem" they lied to you! Surprised? Any grape juice or wine that comes from grapes can become "yayin Stam," and be forbidden. The concept is that it was by a non-Jew or a non-religious Jew, and they had the opportunity to touch it, or pour it. The rule of Yayin Stam is not on grapes. It is only on it's Juice. It begins when the juice is seperated from the grapes, and it is now only liquid. From this point forward, the juice is capable of becoming Yayin Stam, which is prohibitted. If however, it is cooked, it can never become Yayin Stam. That is why all grape juice in the U.S. is kosher, because during the processing the juice gets cooked with the grapes still together. It can never become Yayin Stam. Now another important rule is that Yayin Stam does not conform with the traditional concept of Batel Beshishim, which is that normally that non-kosher foods are rendered irelevant if mixed into kosher food and is less than 1/60th of the whole mixture. By wine, it is Batel (rendered irelevant) when the mixed with other liquids, and is less than 1/6th. That means 6 parts water and one part wine, is not a problem of Yayin Stam. Grape flavored soda almost always has no real grape juice, and if it does, it is certainly less than 1/6th. Even if it was all grape juice, it's OK. AA